Female Characters on the Show

[GamerGirl]

Everyone eventually gets called on something no matter what their gender. Everyone eventually moved past all of their initial impressions.

I think part of the reason Tommy gets the praise he does is because Kelly is so down on him. Nobody really likes Kelly at this point - so Michael is enjoying the fact he can prove her wrong (& I think he says that people treating kids as if their stupid just because their young drives him nuts).

Kc respects his female characters. Just wait until the end of season 4 & see what he does to the one of the guys to bring the ladies center stage. (It's effective, but kinda mean)

[General Malarky]

Everyone eventually gets called on something no matter what their gender. Everyone eventually moved past all of their initial impressions.

I think part of the reason Tommy gets the praise he does is because Kelly is so down on him. Nobody really likes Kelly at this point - so Michael is enjoying the fact he can prove her wrong (& I think he says that people treating kids as if their stupid just because their young drives him nuts).

Kc respects his female characters. Just wait until the end of season 4 & see what he does to the one of the guys to bring the ladies center stage. (It's effective, but kinda mean)

Wait wait... Are you talking about the trainees/Hope thing in the last episode?

That was funny

Or was it the... Uhhhh... Other thing... Whatever that was... I'm a little confused...

[kawkaw]

Hi everyone! I'm brand new to We're Alive. I'm only on Chapter 10 and enjoying every minute so far! But on the topic of the female characters, I did find it interesting that the series perpetuated subtle, institutional sexism in the way the characters interact with each other. I partly wonder whether it was intentional, but it doesn't really matter if it wasn't. I think if you pay attention to how the male characters interact with each other and with their female counterparts, the show actually highlights some of the major issues women face in a male-dominated society - specifically, the assumption that women are weak/unintelligent/illogical/lesser than.

It was very noticeable to me that our main heroes carry around certain assumptions. They assume men (in general) are capable until the men prove otherwise (like putting faith in Datu to get certain things done and done right). They also assume women (in general) are incapable until the women prove themselves capable. The most glaring instance of this so far (remember - I'm only at Chapter 10!) is when Lizzie goes with Saul and Burt on their supply mission. Burt assumes Lizzie can't shoot until she decapitates a few zombies with three quick pops of her gun. Saul immediately dismisses Lizzie's hypothesis about the zombie driving a car until she proves it point by point. Then, it seemed like the very next opportunity the guys had to affirm their own beliefs that Lizzie is somehow inferior to them, they pounce on it. ("Educated idiot if you ask me...")

There's also the immediate dismissal of Riley's abilities with a bow and arrow as useless. The men (Angel in particular) demeaned the idea of using arrows until Riley proved that a bow could be a useful weapon on multiple occasions. Although this might be attributed on the surface to a preference for firearms and perhaps ignorance as to the usefulness of bows, I think Angel, Michael and the others were very quick to dismiss the skill as useless without even inquiring as to why Riley believed it useful. They didn't give her the same benefit of the doubt that Michael afforded 16 year old Tommy and his camera.

Anyway, those are just my two cents on the topic. Looking forward to what happens next!

This is a very good analysis. I feel like I could endlessly rant about how awful the women are treated in this show. I'm on episode 25, but I don't think I'll listen to it anymore. At this point the blatant sexism destroys any initial interest I had for a zombie podcast.

[General Malarky]

This is a very good analysis. I feel like I could endlessly rant about how awful the women are treated in this show. I'm on episode 25, but I don't think I'll listen to it anymore. At this point the blatant sexism destroys any initial interest I had for a zombie podcast.

Yup... Sure... It's your right to miss out on the BEST STORY EVER. Go ahead... Leave... Gets my vote for best first post...

[Litmaster]

IMO, the criticism of sexism in We're Alive is completely ridiculous and unfounded:

1. The main badass villain in the story is a WOMAN (who dominates all the male criminals in her group BTW)
2. A strong, independent, skilled archer is a WOMAN
3. The best, most capable leader and planner in the story is a WOMAN
4. One of the only two qualified pilots in the story is a WOMAN
5. The capable doctor and scientist who comes the closest to discovering the reason for the outbreak is a WOMAN

Sorry, but I think extreme feminist activism has distorted the perception of some in this thread.
If you're looking to bash someone for creating a sexist story, you'd best look elsewhere. Kc has nothing to apologize for.

[Gooer]

IMO, the criticism of sexism in We're Alive is completely ridiculous and unfounded:

1. The main badass villain in the story is a WOMAN (who dominates all the male criminals in her group BTW)
2. A strong, independent, skilled archer is a WOMAN
3. The best, most capable leader and planner in the story is a WOMAN
4. One of the only two qualified pilots in the story is a WOMAN
5. The capable doctor and scientist who comes the closest to discovering the reason for the outbreak is a WOMAN

Sorry, but I think extreme feminist activism has distorted the perception of some in this thread.
If you're looking to bash someone for creating a sexist story, you'd best look elsewhere. Kc has nothing to apologize for.

Don't really get how people think the show is sexist, when most of the strongest/best characters are female....

[Merlin1274]

How is this different then any movie or TV show ever made? You can find and nitpick little things to death and read into things that are not there.. Why can't people just enjoy a story for what it is, Entertainment not a Politically Correct manifesto about racism, feminism and perfect harmony. Get a life. Sounds to me like they are haters from some other Pod Cast.

[Kc]

Hi everyone! I'm brand new to We're Alive. I'm only on Chapter 10 and enjoying every minute so far! But on the topic of the female characters, I did find it interesting that the series perpetuated subtle, institutional sexism in the way the characters interact with each other. I partly wonder whether it was intentional, but it doesn't really matter if it wasn't. I think if you pay attention to how the male characters interact with each other and with their female counterparts, the show actually highlights some of the major issues women face in a male-dominated society - specifically, the assumption that women are weak/unintelligent/illogical/lesser than.

It was very noticeable to me that our main heroes carry around certain assumptions. They assume men (in general) are capable until the men prove otherwise (like putting faith in Datu to get certain things done and done right). They also assume women (in general) are incapable until the women prove themselves capable. The most glaring instance of this so far (remember - I'm only at Chapter 10!) is when Lizzie goes with Saul and Burt on their supply mission. Burt assumes Lizzie can't shoot until she decapitates a few zombies with three quick pops of her gun. Saul immediately dismisses Lizzie's hypothesis about the zombie driving a car until she proves it point by point. Then, it seemed like the very next opportunity the guys had to affirm their own beliefs that Lizzie is somehow inferior to them, they pounce on it. ("Educated idiot if you ask me...")

There's also the immediate dismissal of Riley's abilities with a bow and arrow as useless. The men (Angel in particular) demeaned the idea of using arrows until Riley proved that a bow could be a useful weapon on multiple occasions. Although this might be attributed on the surface to a preference for firearms and perhaps ignorance as to the usefulness of bows, I think Angel, Michael and the others were very quick to dismiss the skill as useless without even inquiring as to why Riley believed it useful. They didn't give her the same benefit of the doubt that Michael afforded 16 year old Tommy and his camera.

Anyway, those are just my two cents on the topic. Looking forward to what happens next!

This is a very good analysis. I feel like I could endlessly rant about how awful the women are treated in this show. I'm on episode 25, but I don't think I'll listen to it anymore. At this point the blatant sexism destroys any initial interest I had for a zombie podcast.

I'm ok with discussing this sort of thing and enjoy discussing it, as it's something that's been pulled very much to the forefront of modern social commentary regarding how female characters are written. First and foremost, I feel most of the characters in the WA story that are female are in many ways written strong, but any character that doesn't show or have weak moments become stagnant characters. Be it male or female characters, everyone needs flaws.

How Burt reacts to Lizzy as a character is more in tuned with her background rather than her sexuality. Lizzy came into the story as a spoiled college student with no real world experience and part of her arc was to prove to herself and others that she had more of a purpose. In a survivalist situation, people are going to judge who you are and what you can do based on where you came from and what you did. Lizzy's "survival resume" was thin, which was intentional. There were many times in the story where "Usefullness" is directly commented on, and even Angel commented negatively towards those who might not contribute to the survival of the whole. In the end, she proved them wrong.

Datu's assumed by others more capable because the tasks given to him were directly related to what he did previously. He was a maintenance man for an entire apartment complex for many years. The others who were soldiers were also trusted moreso right away given that they had previous experience as combat-ready people. These are examples where previous occupations influence initial perspectives on each other.

As for the bow and arrow, any soldier would trust the combat effectiveness of a rifle over a bow. If Angel trusted the bow right away, that would stick out to me as odd.

If anyone had more examples of what they think is sexist in the story, I'd be more than happy to talk about them.

[Litmaster]

Kc, you're being way too fair, as usual.

[GamerGirl]

Wait wait... Are you talking about the trainees/Hope thing in the last episode?

That was funny

Or was it the... Uhhhh... Other thing... Whatever that was... I'm a little confused...

How to do this w/out spoilers.....

Let's just say Puck has the worst luck. (Check the Last few WA Fancasts for more details).


But the Hope thing was cool too.